


Playing the Hand Delt- Mycroft and Mummy Holmes

by mphelmsman



Series: It's all in the Cards [12]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Minor OC - Freeform, Mummy was a spy, Mycroft has a lot to learn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 10:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4603359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mphelmsman/pseuds/mphelmsman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft goes to his Mother's for tea and it revealed to him how much he still has to learn. Knowing when to act can be as important as knowing how to act.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing the Hand Delt- Mycroft and Mummy Holmes

_** 10 of Wands Reversed ** _

 

_** 10 of Wands upright can mean that there has been an overload of communication and that perhaps vital information is getting lost in the shuffle. The goal that one seeks to attain is very near, 10 being a number of completion within the Minor Arcana; but the heavy load must still be carried for some time and the burden has become too much. Reverse may indicate that one recognizes this problem and has decided to share the burden; share communications and information with a trusted associate so that the burden is not so overpowering that one can never reach the goal that is just out of reach. ** _

 

_** 6 of Wands ** _

 

_** 6 of Wands indicate a victory in the realm of communication and information. It is a subtle victory however, there are no weapons present in the card. It is a strategic victory rather than the more all encompassing victory indicated by the Major Arcana card of the Chariot. However, new information, knowledge, or even wisdom attained is a victory of it's own and this card shines with it. ** _

 

_** 2 of Wands ** _

  
_** This is a card for when one is contemplating a situation carefully before one acts mindfully. The whole world is available, as the figure in the card holds a globe in his hand, but it is at this stage a potential rather than an actuality. It is the card that reminds us that at the beginning of activity there should be a time of contemplation; you must make sure you see the entire picture before you can plan how to change it. The details are what can make or break any plan take; time to know them. ** _

_** ** _

 

Mycroft Holmes hung his umbrella up beside the door into the kitchen of his parents house but then stilled as he found not only his mother sitting at the kitchen table as expected but another older woman as well. Between them were two chipped and well used teapots and there was a cup waiting for him so hung his coat and tried to think why his mother had invited another person to what he had thought would be a planning session. "Mikey dear, come join us, the kettle's just boiled so bring it over and fill the pot for us.", she said, her eyes sparkling as he felt his lips thin over the hated nickname. Whole governments moved at a mere suggestion of his but whenever he was in his mother's presence he felt no more than twelve years old.

_**** _

"Yes Mummy, " he said, unplugging the cord from the electric kettle, "May I be introduced to your friend?" he asked as he filled the teapot that gave off the aroma of bergamot that a high grade Earl Grey was redolent of.

_**** _

Violet absently set a timer, Mycroft knew she despised over brewed tea, "Oh, you must remember Anne MacEachern, she used to come for tea quite often when you were a boy."

_**** _

"Mrs. MacEachern." Mycroft greeted the other woman gravely. She was dressed in a practical jumper and slacks in shades of faded blue. Beside her chair was a cane with a wooden handle and her silver hair was worn short unlike his mother's elegant chignon. She had about her an air of light hearted practicality.

_**** _

"Nice to see you again, Mycroft." the woman said with a sunny smile. "It's been so long."

_**** _

"Sit and make yourself comfortable, Mikey." his mother stated firmly, "Anne has brought us a gift today and I want you to see it."

_**** _

Mycroft gave his mother a questioning glance as he put the kettle back and seated himself at the table. Anne must have noticed because she laughed softly, "You still keep your secrets close Violet?"

_**** _

"The only way to keep secrets Anne, dear." Mummy said with a slight smile, looking over the plates and cups on the table to make sure everything was correct. "Myc, you may remember Anne as the district nurse, retired now of course."

_**** _

"Ah, yes." Mycroft grit his teeth a bit, well aware that Sherlock inherited some of his manner from their mother. He supposed he could wait until she decided to share. The timer rang at a minute and a half and his mother poured the tea from the pot she infused the tea in to another pot from which she served. It was an oddity of his mother's that he had never thought to question. He sipped his and allowed the very fresh, light citrus flavor of the tea to permeate his senses. Violet Holmes was serving her best today, indicating Mrs. MacEachern was important in a way he couldn't quite make out.

_**** _

The lady in question sighed in satisfaction, "I've missed these teas. Always so refreshing when I was running hither and yon."

_**** _

"And all those trips to London and other cities for conferences or to help out in other districts." Mycroft narrowed his eyes as his mother gave him a look that told him he had missed something vital.

_**** _

"That is why I always appreciated when you invited me to tea and I could bring a little gift of appreciation." the woman dug in her bag and brought out a memory stick, "You'll like this Violet. Our American cousins did very well for us. I think it will help you get a better idea of the weather for the next few months."

_**** _

Yes, Mycroft recalled now that when the woman came to call regularly in his youth she and his mother would often discuss the weather in mind numbing detail. Then he sat up straight as he realized that the key phrase was 'our American cousins'. The Holmes didn't have any family in the US that he was aware and certainly no connections with MacEacherns. It was a code for the CIA; so too must have been those conversations he had overheard as a child. All of it an elaborate code that kept his mother's and undoubtedly Mrs. MacEachern's covers intact.

_**** _

He looked in shock to his mother who smiled with a hint of smugness. "The curtain pulls back I see. Didn't you ever wonder how I kept up to date with everything while still keeping you and your brother in line? Even if it was only during the school Holidays. There was nothing like emails in those days. Anne's position was quite convenient for the distribution and sharing of information. No one thinks about where a district nurse goes to call and she never had a shortage of excuses for trips either." Violet Holmes smile widened, "I've often wondered why you insist having offices, dear. The only tool absolutely required in our profession is our minds."

_**** _

Anne laughed softly, placing her cup down on the saucer, "Neither of your boys are very good at acting unassuming Violet. I've read that blog about your youngest."

_**** _

"Yes." Violet sobered and turned to Mycroft, "I had hoped to rather start today with you informing me about  how Sherlock's Dr Watson is. No need to keep secrets in this room anymore."

_**** _

"Ah," Mycroft tried to regain his mental balance, he always had to when his mother stripped away her harmless old woman mask to show her real face to him. "He is being weaned off the ventilator now; his progress has been admirable. But I still cannot persuade Sherlock to leave and get some rest. No matter how many operatives I tell him are among the hospital staff he is utterly convinced that another attack could be made on the good Doctor."

_**** _

"Very sensible," Anne said, taking a biscuit, "too many people in and out in that environment to lock it down completely."

_**** _

Violet sipped from her cup thoughtfully, "I'd no more leave your father's side in such a situation than Sherlock would leave John's, Myc, and you know it. Sherlock is doing just as he ought under the circumstances. Do not interfere with him." the last was an order and Mycroft knew it.If he did not obey there would be reprisals.  


_**** _

"I had hoped that he would not have to deal with such circumstances. I thought you were handling the former Mrs. Watson." Mycroft kept his voice mild. He didn't dare make his objections stronger.

_**** _

"There is always an error factor when playing this type of game, Myc, you should know that." his mother's voice sounded rather sharp in his ears. "And one of the moves you seem to forget in your tendency to micromanage situations is that sometimes you must wait and see what information comes to **you**." She tapped the memory stick. "This new organization Angela is a part of has been growing for some time right under your nose. It is being run by a very astute and subtle personality; much more subtle than Mr Moriarty was. It is the time of waiting and gauging our enemies. Knowing when to act is as important as knowing how to act."

_**** _

"And in the mean time Dr Watson gets shot and my brother almost goes mad with anxiety."

_**** _

"Yes, that could be an advantage in many respects." Violet said, taking another sip of her tea, "Anne, dear, would one of our friends have a daughter who is a community nurse in London? Doctors make the worst patients and I'd rather those two boys concentrate on John’s health rather than getting deeper into trouble. A visiting nurse could make sure that my boy is aware of how much attention his partner needs until he is fully recovered."

_**** _

"I'm sure Cari has a relative that is in London. And we still get together regularly to compare pictures of the grandchildren. That Facebook site is quite useful if you take a certain care and Cari has always been one for the new technologies; she still has fond memories of the stories her Aunt told her of Bletchley."

_**** _

Mycroft blinked, he had thought all the women who worked in Bletchley Park had gone on to be housewives and such. Now he saw that those were the types that his mother had formed into a service even the Government hadn't known about. Far more secretive and subtle than the more formal net of agents he had working for him and very unlikely to be suspected by anyone since they covered their sharing of information in coded conversations of children, grandchildren, the weather, probably even the prices of tea and milk. He looked at a new appreciation at his mother.

 

  
"I assume that will keep Sherlock and the good Doctor from taking any sudden action." he said tentatively, a question hid in the statement.

_**** _

"Oh yes, and it will give them more time to concentrate on making this new depth in their relationship a solid thing between them." Violet nibbled on a biscuit. "In the meantime, it will allow me to get reacquainted with friends that I fell out of touch with when I handed the business to you. Also, I think I'd like that young lady with the funny attachment to her mobile to join us. She's a bit obvious but I'm sure you won't mind sending her down regularly to be some help to your elderly mother around the house and such. She might even enjoy taking some time off from your service for family matters. Anne could adopt her as it were."

_**** _

"Oh yes," Anne laughed, a charming old lady laugh that seemed completely harmless and probably was not, "I'll be more than happy to discover a cousin interested in family history."

_**** _

"I feel as if I'm about to go back to school." Mycroft said wryly.

_**** _

"And so you should." Violet said a bit sharply, "That Moriarty business was handled in a rather grandstanding fashion. I know Sherlock can't help it but I didn't think you would miss the chance of making Dr. Watson an asset rather than a vulnerability. When Sherlock practically shoved your father and I out of the flat I knew in an instant the lengths to which those two would go to for each other." she reached over and patted Mycroft's hand, "You had rather narrowed your vision on that score. Sherlock isn't like he was and you didn't account for the change. A change that I daresay started before he had to go away."

_**** _

"Women tend to be more perceptive on that score Violet. "Anne stated smoothly.

_**** _

"True, and now here." Violet handed the memory stick, "Information of the part of Mr Moriarty's organization in the America's and a great deal of information our cousins were able to dig up on an Agent Agra will be encoded into each one of the image files on here. I'm sure you have people that can get to it. I'm also quite sure Lady Smallwood at least should be aware of what service Sherlock has already been to Her Majesty's government. She likely only needs an excuse to rule the elimination of that cretin Magnussen as an authorized MI6 operation. Then your assistant… what is her name?"

_**** _

"Anthea, Mummy, at the moment anyway. It tends to change" Mycroft said, turning the USB stick in his fingers. He was already planning how he might present the information of Sherlock’s business in the US to his superiors. 

_**** _

Anne sighed, "Obvious." before taking another sip of her tea.

_**** _

"The one disadvantage to the wide range of opportunities young women have today, Anne dear. I'm sure you and Bethany can show her better how to hide in plain sight. Lord knows very few of even our closest family members have known about our service to the country. And then perhaps she can bring some elegance to your organization, Mikey dear."

_**** _

"Mother, why do you have to refer to me by those childish names?" Mycroft said irritably.

_**** _

"Because you still rather act as one. You personal manners are elegant enough but some of your operations have rather been like a crayon sketches. I allowed your training to be at the hands of the government because I was ready to get out from under the burden of work at the time. But now it's time for me to teach you how to raise the level of your game; the first lesson being that pretensions of superiority tend to make one a target. The point is not to move through the halls of power smoothly but to keep in doubt that you even know those halls exist at all." Violet shared a smile with her friend, "Yes, more than time to show you how adults handle advanced situations Mycroft Holmes. Perhaps then I won't have to keep reminding you of the childishness that has crept into your tradecraft."

_**  
Mycroft sighed wearily; he felt like a schoolchild on the first day. His errors were going to be held over his head while his mother graded his work. Between that and all the other international matters he had to deal with he could foresee very little sleep in his future. He apparently had a whole slew of new subjects to study.  ** _

**Author's Note:**

> for more Sherlock fun see my [ tumblr](%E2%80%9Dmphelmsman9.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)


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